Making cookies

We all donned aprons and went to work on some yummy oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies.

Building houses

We built house after house, then took them down and started over, I think for the month of January our couch cushions were on the floor more than the couch.

New Year Note

We had a very eventful year. The biggest news was our big purchase – we put ourselves into the mercy of our debtors and bought a house. And we love it!

Jon has now completed another enjoyable year (his fifth!) with Adaptive Computing (which changed their name from Cluster Resources in July). When not at work he has a great time being loud and rambunctious with the family. One of the year’s highlights is he convinced Liz to leave the kids for the first time ever and they went on a cruise to Mexico – which was fabulous. He has also undertaken the daunting task of building a climbing wall in our basement.

Liz hit the mile marker in getting old by leaving her twenties behind. Along with getting old comes health issues – after complaining to a doctor about numb fingers, followed by a lot of tests, Liz was diagnosed with MS. She started treatment the week we moved into our new house and she is doing great. She continues to enjoy being a wife and mother, and now has the privilege of teaching the 11 year old class in primary during 2010.

Caleb enjoys riding his trike, prefers to spend all day digging in the dirt, and believes that wrestling is a good way to get out aggression – even if it is with an unwilling opponent. He had a rough start to the year when the dentist found eight cavities and he had them filled at the hospital, complete with anesthesiology.

Neeve has grown this year from an infant to a beautiful little girl. She adores her mommy and never wants her to leave her sight. She loves to take care of her baby (dolly), has to do everything all by herself, and fights tooth and nail if she thinks someone is encroaching on her territory.

Our family had a lot of fun this year including spending the Fourth of July in the Tetons (where Jon and Liz spent their honeymoon 4 years to the day earlier), joining Liz’s family on a house boat for five days at Lake Powell, and visiting Goblin Valley and Capitol Reef National Park.

We hope this letter finds you well and in good spirits this new year.

Love and Happiness,
Jon, Liz, Caleb, and Neeve Ryskamp

Christmas 09

Here are just a couple of Christmas highlights.

Neeve as a lamb.


Opening gifts at Grandma and Grandpa Ryskamp's.


Neeve's Baby


Caleb vocalizing his gift - LeggOs.

Cutie

Today we fixed Neeve's hair in two pigtails. It was darling.



Peggy - you were right - the knots came out with only a few hairs pulled.

Thanksgiving at our house!

Here we are having Thanksgiving at our house this year. George and Peggy got here early to get the turkey in the oven - Jon was watching closely to know how to make the stuffing in years to come. Caleb was a big help with his apron and cook set.



Peggy took the kids for a walk and they had a great time - not to mention they looked cute in their winter garb.



Everyone slept over that night and helped Jon get a good start on the climbing wall we decided to put up in the basement.



To help with the climbing wall, Caleb got a handy work set from Peggy and George that morning for his birthday, but Neeve stole the show as she was the one willing to put on the dress up parts of the set.



She was hilarious with her Napoleon Dynamite faces while wearing the goggles.

Arizona for the week

Here are some fun shots that my mom took as we were visiting in Arizona.

Caleb and Sam posing for some cousinly love.



Neeve looking cute as usual.



Caleb got a bake set from Grammy and Grandpa Balls - he absolutely loves it.



And I just couldn't leave this photo out.